Cougar Town before Cougar Town
by christacox13
Summary: The prequel of Andy and Ellie Torres and Jules and Bobby Cobb's lives' before the show right up until the show. It's a modern day AU but all the credits for the characters go to Bill Lawrence and the other writers. Assume all characters are played by the actresses and actors from the show. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I hope you guys actually like my writing, because there is no chance that I am leaving. Here we go again with my 5th project in the works, which is going to be another Cougar Town fanfic because there are basically none already created and it makes me sad. It is set as a prequel before all of the seasons on DVD, spanning 24 years, and centres around Bobby Cobb, Jules Cobb, and Ellie and Andy Torres going from when they are in their early twenties right up until the early 40s as we see in the DVDs. I might do a sequel with a rewrite of all the seasons, but that's me being ambitious for right now. Travis and Stan will feature, but not Grayson. Laurie will feature, but she won't be added until further in because of the timeline of events. Please bear with me as updates may be slow for this story, but I really will try along with the four others I am trying to write and I will always welcome suggestions for improvements and reviews. I will be alternating the perspectives that the chapters are written from between characters. The story is written in two halves, College and Post College.

Sorry for the ridiculously long author note, but let's continue on to the first chapter:

COLLEGE

Chapter 1 – Jules

"Why are you always just sitting around?" Ellie said to me, sitting on her bed.

"Because I can and it's relaxing," I reply. "Why? Where do you want to go?"

Ellie paused to think. "Go get coffee," she said.

We were in our college dorm. I had met her in my first year being at college, a year ago, as she had been assigned as my roommate. She had got considerably easier to get along with, but even I was still learning her habits because that was how you had to approach any kind of friendship with Ellie. We were best friends at this point, though so I was proud to say that I had clearly been successful.

{A/N: Sorry guys, I forgot to mention this but imagine that Bobby Cobb is played by Brian Van Holt, Jules Cobb as Courteney Cox, Ellie Torres as Christa Miller etc.}

"Sure," I said, even though I knew that I was only really agreeing because I could've done with a coffee myself, and because it was drastically better than staying and being reminded of how selfish of me it was every five seconds.

I grabbed my coat and started walking towards the door, closely followed by Ellie.

"Do you have money with you?" I asked Ellie, whilst looking for my purse in my coat pockets.

"No," she says, as nonchalant as ever. "I just assumed that you did."

I sighed. Typical Ellie. Luckily, I did had a spare $10 note which would be enough for us to get coffee. We walked down the stairs to the entrance to the college accommodation, and outside towards the Starbucks.

When we get to the Starbucks, I am relieved to see that there is no queue. Ellie and I walk through the doors, and walk straight up to counter. The barista at the till gestured towards us to place our order with her.

"Can I have a Tall flat white and," I looked at Ellie.

"And a Grande cappuccino with two expresso shots," Ellie said.

The barista looked a little shocked at the level of caffeine. I was used to it, however, because Ellie seems completely unaffected by caffeine so she needs like buckets of it to be able to function as a slightly less sarcastic and bearable person.

We step back after I pay the bill and order the drinks under my name, Jules, and wait for the coffees.

"Do you have any plans for studying or whatever?" I asked Ellie.

"Do you?" Ellie asked back.

I supressed a groan over how unhelpful that comment was. "Seriously?" I ask Ellie, hoping that my look that I am shooting at her is disapproving. "Is it really the best time to be pissy?"

"In the world of Ellie," she says, "yes, it is." She returns my look with the most insufferably proud look that even I can appreciate the level of talent that it takes to come up of these comments.

"Oh hi! Sorry but your coffees are ready!" the barista says, and I walk towards the serving station at the end of the counter.

I took my coffee cup, and Ellie grabbed hers. We walked out together, and I turned to talk to Ellie.

"Do you now know what you want to do?" I asked Ellie.

"Well, I don't have a social life," Ellie says, "mainly because most people are idiots, so consider me all yours!"

I roll my eyes, and start to walk straight towards the library that was on the college campus. Since the fall midterms were coming up, I was trying to cram in all the revision I could. Ellie was just tagging along because I was the only friend that would bother putting up with her, even though she was majoring in law and had much more work to do than I did.

{A/N: Sorry again to break up the story, however I am sure that you have realised the story is AU, I just wanted to let you know that the story is written in an alternative universe in the form of a prequel to the actual scripted show}

We sat down on a table, and I realised that I had left all my books back in the dorm. I blame Ellie for this, because if I had stopped to pack my bag, she would have definitely moaned at me that I was taking too long and I would have lost the will to live.

"I've gotta go get my textbooks," I tell Ellie.

"Okay then," Ellie replies. "I'll save the seats so no one random will end up bugging us."

"You do that," I say, deciding to take my coffee with me just in case Ellie decides that she needs more caffeine, or it gets unbearably cold. When you are around Ellie Torres, both are equally as likely.

I manage to sprint all the way to the dorm and back in less than ten minutes which I was pretty proud of, but, whilst trying to desperately get my breath back, I was reminded of how painfully unattractive the result looks in the reflection of the nearby glass walls of the library.

"I'm back," I say to Ellie, cringing at how out of breath I still sound.

"I can see that," Ellie said, looking me up and down. "You look like you just ran a marathon!" she added.

"I can't tell whether that's a compliment in admiration of me," I say, "or a comment on my appearance."

Ellie shrugged. "You know that you are one of the only people that I have respect for, so I hope that answers your question."

Oddly, I was relieved by this statement. It was true that it was virtually impossible to be friends with Ellie, and even harder to receive any kind of sentimental comment from her.

"Do you have any plans of actual work to do?" I asked Ellie, as I was setting out my textbooks and notebooks ready to work.

"Why else would I have left the dorm with my bag?" Ellie says.

I roll my eyes. I chose not to say anything, but again I had been too busy trying to please the queen to notice what she was taking with her.

"I'm going to work now," I say. "So I am going to wear headphones," I lean down to grab my headphones from my bag, "to make sure that you don't distract me."

"Oi!"

Ellie hit me on the head, and I looked up from my writing notes.

"What?" I said, annoyed that I had been disturbed.

"Name a time that I have distracted you before," Ellie said, "then I'll let you wear the headphones."

"Well…" I start to think, and try not to make eye contact with Ellie. I can see that she is revelling in my discomfort, especially because she knows how annoyed it makes her. "There was that time…"

"Yes?" Ellie grins at me. "When was it?"

"Ellie…" I start to say, watching her grin become wider.

"Can't think of one?" she says, looking absolutely ecstatic.

"I hate you," I say. "Do you want me to pass my midterms?"

"Yes," Ellie says, "but I want to have as much fun as possible as well."

I sigh. "Not surprised." I lean to try and continue to write my notes.

"You don't look too happy about that," Ellie goads, not even trying to hide her amusement. "Not at all."

I make eye contact with Ellie, and start to talk. "Get out," I say, earning a look from the old woman who happens to be the librarian. I start talking again, this time quieter, and say, "Seriously. I mean it."

"Really?" Ellie says, looking bothered. She turns away from me, and I heard sniffs.

"Ellie…"

I start to feel like I've actually said something that has hurt Ellie. I called her name, and she didn't look up. "You know, I didn't meant that," I started to say, "I actually really love you and you can feel free to stay here because I guess I don't have to start studying quite yet."

"Oh yeah!" Ellie turned back around, triumphantly. "Thank you very much!"

I roll my eyes. "I am not as gullible as you think," I say. "Despite what you may think."

Ellie looked at me again, hard.

I stood up, grabbed all my work and shoved it in my bag. My coffee cup was still marking my place, and so I picked it up. It was empty, and so I walked over to the bin and chucked it away. As I walked away, I made sure to maintain eye contact with Ellie until I was out of sight.

I started to make my way back to the dorms, and thunder up the stairs to the rooms. I took the key from my handbag, and started turning the key in the lock. For some reason the key wouldn't turn in the lock properly because it would get three-quarters of the way around before locking in position. My first instinct was to panic, so I rattled the door and shouted.

"Let me in!"

There was no response. I stopped and thought for a moment. No one else but the woman that the college employs to occasionally change the beds and do some other housework things has access to the room. That leaves one person…

"Son of a bitch!" I yell, and watch as a note emerges from under the door.

I read the note, and attempted to stifle the rapidly building up urge to scream. I looked back through my pockets, and found a random bobby pin. I started to work the end of the bobby pin into the keyhole, and sure enough the door handle relaxed.

I pushed open the door, and walked in. Ellie was sitting triumphantly on her bed. As I was walking to sit on my own bed, I accidentally made eye contact with Ellie and she smiled even harder to the point where I could've sworn she was starting to laugh.

"Did you like it?" She asked me.

"Are you happy now?" I said, starting to actually lose it. "Did you like proving your point about me being gullible and predictable? Did it make your day?" I put emphasis on the last few syllables.

"Oh yeah," Ellie says, smugly. "What?" she looks at me, feeling hurt. "You don't feel the same way?"

I had to look away because I was so angry with Ellie that I was actually laughing at her, and Ellie couldn't see. I was really trying to keep my composure, when Ellie piped up again.

"Jules Kiki Cobb, you're laughing at me," Ellie said. "Admit it, come on."

I turned back round to look directly at Ellie. "You win," I said.

Ellie smiled. "Do you want to know how I did it?"

"Whatever," I said.

"Come over here," Ellie said, and she offered me in a hug.

"I wish someone was here to film this," I said, "because you actually showing some kind of affection is a one-in-a-million occurrence and should be captured."

"Don't push your luck," Ellie said, trying to sound serious whilst still hugging me.

We break apart, and I move back to sit on the bed. I looked over at my bedside table, and noticed that I had a stack of novels that I didn't remember taking out of the library. I picked off the top one, and turned around the book to read the blurb.

I read it, and looked at the blurb. It was some romantic comedy novel. I was going to put it back on the pile, when I had a better idea.

"Hey, Ellie," I said, with the book in my hand. "You should read this."

She grabbed the book from me, and read the blurb. "This is a rom-com. I hate those books because they're too happy and make me feel sick with the levels of romance."

She gives me a second quizzical look, which only lasts about three seconds. "I see what you did there," she said.

"Yeah buddy," I said, triumphantly. "I got mine!"

Ellie rolled her eyes, but I could see that she wasn't actually annoyed. I smiled at her because all the arguments we had were so worth it as she was actually a good friend, and hilarious.

A/N: First of all, I wanted to apologise for the complete lack of updates for about a week. I was having a difficult time with motivation, but now I am back. I am so proud of how this chapter has come along because when I started I honestly had no idea what I wanted from it. Secondly, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter, and I would recommend watching the show Cougar Town if you don't know what the show is, because it is seriously underrated and you are missing out. I'll welcome any suggestions for plot ideas, and I also want to encourage you guys to check out the three books in the trilogy I am writing and leave your thoughts. I will be updating them, and the last book that I am in the process of writing which is a Cougar Town/Friends crossover.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm back with the second chapter of 'Cougar town before Cougar town.' I apologise for the lack of creativity behind the title, but it still seemed a very apt choice. As you probably would expect from me based on my other works, this story will continue in the first person and the character perspective that I am writing from will always be stated at the beginning. Thank you very much for all your support with my other four different books, and I hope that you will enjoy this one. Reviews and suggestions for improvements with the story will always be appreciated, and so I hope that you will share them. I think I've talked for long enough, so let's continue and see where this chapter goes:

Chapter 2 – Ellie

"I want coffee," I say loudly, whilst lying vertically on my bed.

Jules was taking a shower in the en-suite bathroom, and I was attempting to read one of my assigned textbooks but in reality I was just bored but too lazy to move. "Go get it yourself," I hear Jules shout back.

"I don't have money," I say back. "Besides, I'm too lazy to walk all the way down to Starbucks."

"Then there's no way that you're going to get coffee," Jules shouts back. "That's how it works today, my friend!"

I am thinking through the options I have to answer with when Jules starts to talk again. "Besides," she adds. "You do have money!"

Regardless of the fact that Jules was right, I still didn't want to use it for coffee. We had gone down to the canteen at breakfast where they had had the coffee and tea machines that you could get for free, but as per usual, the coffee machine had been broken. Consequently for Jules, but luckily for me, I had been trying to wear her down with Ellie's coffee withdrawal attitude problems.

"I'll go steal one then," I say, knowing full well that Jules would end up paying for me so that I could stay here and complete my degree as Jules was so supportive of me achieving.

"Hasn't the fact that you are literally studying the law as part of your degree taught you anything?" Jules shouted back.

{A/N: Many apologies, but if I use the British spellings of words or entire words themselves such as 'degree' instead of 'major', it's because I live in the UK, so sorry to my readers if it gets annoying because I do try to remember to use the 'correct' one with the story}

"Yeah," I say. "But it has so little written on emergencies that I am pretty sure that Elisabeth needing coffee could fall under that category."

"I give up," Jules shouts back, and I grin in celebration. "I'm going to go through your wallet and find the money," I say, as if I was stating a fact.

Before Jules can comment any further, I walk over to Jules's bed and see her rucksack that is sitting on her pillow, beside a pile of books. I unzip the front compartment of the rucksack, and find her wallet almost immediately. I zip open the section where she keeps her loose cash, and start counting enough for my regular drink of choice, a Grande cappuccino with two shots of expresso. I take a few extra bucks to make sure that I can also get Jules her regular order too, since I am stealing her money and she's more likely to go easy on me when she finds out.

I put the wallet back into the rucksack, and put it back where it was originally on the bed. I pocket the money, and grab one of my many scarves that's hanging up with our bed robes, coats and jackets on the coatstand. I wrap it around my neck in front of the mirror, and shout through the frosted door of the en-suite that I am leaving to go to Starbucks.

I take the key out of the lock, and open the door. I lock it again, and start walking towards the staircase. I hope that, because it's 10am in the morning and most people have lessons around this time, I don't meet anyone as I am walking downstairs.

"Hey Ellie," one of the guys who's in the same dorm block as me says as I pass him. I debate between pretending that I haven't heard him or saying something in return. I decide on saying something because he is one of the more decent people in my class. He's not that horrible looking, either.

"Oh hi, Andy," I say, "I'm just on my way to get coffee."

"Cool," he replies. "I'm off to study."

"Rather you than me," I say, feeling a little surprised by how polite I am being compared to how I am normally.

Andy laughs slightly. "You don't seem like the kind of girl who would care much for studying," he says.

"My talents are often better used elsewhere," I say. "When I say talents, I am mainly referring to my ability to express my hatred towards the majority of humanity."

Andy laughs again. "Don't say that," he says. "You can be such a good friend, and you're funny as well. I mean, look at Jules if you want an example."

Now I'm confused between feeling awkward to the point of embarrassment and flattered. "Thanks," I squeak, having to turn away because I'm blushing bright red and I don't want Andy to see.

"Guess I'll see you around," Andy said, continuing to walk up the stairs. I manage to barely get out an audible goodbye before marching my way straight to Starbucks to get away from the situation because I didn't want to make it more awkward than it already was.

As desperate as I was to forget the encounter, I couldn't shake the feeing. I see Andy pretty much every day in passing through the dorm block, and it's never been this awkward to have a perfectly normal conversation with him. So what, if anything, has changed? I couldn't put a finger on it, which was bothering me the most, but I decided that I was sure that something had changed. I made a mental note as I was pushing the door open to Starbucks to talk to Jules about it.

I ordered Jules and I's regular drinks, and started to walk back up the stairs. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see Andy again, and so I was holding my breath all the way to outside our dorm room. I used my key to unlock the door, after placing the coffees on the floor against the wall in the corridor because I couldn't multitask.

Jules was sitting on her bed when I walked in. I passed her coffee to her, and gave her the spare change. She was looking at me with the expression that I recognised to be pissed off, which adjusted slightly when I handed her the coffee. "At least you had the decency to get me something," she said, taking a sip of her flat white.

"I always do when I steal your money," I said, matter-of-factly. "Anyway, I have some gossip to share."

"Spill," Jules said, shifting slightly on her bed.

I sat down on my own, sitting cross-legged so I was opposite Jules. "You know Andy?" I say. "Andy Torres?"

Jules nods. "Yeah. The one that's majoring in economics and finance?" she says.

"Oh yeah," I say, remembering that as I had forgotten it in the haste of the situation. "Well, today was really odd. He didn't say anything weird or do anything, I was just really awkward and nervous around him, and he was complimenting me and being really friendly."

"That's how most people are," Jules says, laughing for a moment. "But seriously, have you thought about why you were like that?"

"No," I say, sheepishly. I look away.

"You have," Jules says. "Haven't you?"

I want to keep looking away because I am ashamed to admit it. "Maybe…"

"I know! I know!" Jules fist pumps the air. "You looove him!" she exclaims triumphantly, and I have to try and stifle the urge to scream that I don't.

"I don't," I insist, through gritted teeth.

"Prove that to me," Jules says, stubbornly. "Have a completely normal conversation with him without feeling awkward or embarrassed." She pauses to think about it for a minute. "No!" she exclaims, as if she has made some kind of amazing discovery. "Since making sarcastic and mean comments about people is something that comes naturally to you, say something about Andy!"

"Fine!" I say. I try and focus on his features or something that I can make fun of. I try and think of an adjective to describe his height, or that he has a receding hairline, but I can't help focusing on his amazing smile and the fact that he is always a gentleman to everyone he meets. I can see that Jules is enjoying watching me squirm whilst trying to figure out even a single mean thing to say about him, and I can also tell that she knows I'm losing the fight and that she is winning.

"Can't think of anything, can you?" she taunts, enjoyment plastered all over her face.

I really don't want to give in. I don't know why I am so ashamed to admit that I find him and his personality so attractive. It's probably because virtually any kind of sentimental emotion is completely alien to me. I am desperate to wipe the grin off of Jules's face that is just getting wider and wider, but I also know that I can't hide away from the truth and the truth will only give all the satisfaction to Jules.

I start to look at the situation a little more objectively. Would I be open to something in the future with Andy? It takes me a surprisingly short amount of time to decide that I would 100% want to take it further. Based on that, I decide that there really is going to be no benefit to me or my pride by not admitting that I do have a crush on Andy.

"You're right," I say, having to look away almost immediately after saying it because I know that Jules will have the most insufferable 'I told you so' expression on her face. "I have a crush on Andy." It feels oddly comforting to say, but weird at the same time because I had never imagined Andy as any more than just another student at college who happened to be in the same dorm block. "What should I do next?" I ask Jules, because I know that she has experience with navigating relationships.

"Ask him if he feels the same way," Jules said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, no," I say, firmly. "Not that fast."

"Goddammit, Elisabeth!" Jules exclaimed. "You have to get in there as quickly as possible, otherwise you'll have no chance!"

"Keep it down, woman," I said, in frustration. "We are going to keep it as low-key and as subtle as possible."

"That's not going to work!" Jules sang in what I think her best attempt at an annoying child's voice.

I absolutely hated to admit it, but Jules was true after today. The damage had already been done, and my only way to go forward was to try and fix the damage in the way that I wanted. My first question was going to be to Andy, asking why he was nice to someone like me who was always such an ass. If it was for friendship in the same way that Jules had approached me when I first started here, I wouldn't be too gutted but if he wasn't willing to take it further, I would be hurt enough to not want to pursue it.

"I'll go with you to his dorm," Jules offered.

"Thanks," I said, finally giving her eye contact again. I saw in her eyes that she was genuinely happy for me as my best friend, and I felt bad for pushing her away so much. "I really appreciate it." I tried to show Jules in my expression how genuinely grateful I was, and I really hoped that she knew that the fact I had even been able to admit that I loved Andy to her was a huge step in how much I trusted her.

"Let's go now!" she said, getting excited again.

"For fucks sake," I groan, but I shuffle off of my bed to go to the en-suite bathroom. I grabbed my hairbrush, and stood in front of the mirror mounted onto the wall opposite the bathroom. When I'm happy that my hair looks a little more presentable, I look at Jules. "Do you even know which dorm he's in?" I ask.

"Yep," she says. "Follow me."

I follow her, and wait a couple of seconds whilst she locks the door after us. Jules leads the way, and I follow. My palms are starting to sweat, and I am not chill at all. Part of me is telling me to act completely natural and part of me was telling me that I needed to really pick up my game and stop being so awkward. In the end, I just decided to completely ignore both voices in my head because they were making more nervous, and I hoped that by blocking them out, it would go better.

We stop outside the door, and Jules motions for me to make the move and knock on the door. I glare at her furiously, and stand back. Jules ends up knocking on the door for me, and suddenly the grey carpet is disproportionately more interesting to me.

A/N: Sorry to leave y'all on a cliff-hanger, but I was having far too much fun with this not to. You won't regret having to wait, I promise. I also wanted to just thank everyone for the continued support on my books, and I hope that you guys like this one and check out the other four books that I am writing, which are a Cougar Town and Friends crossover novel and a companion trilogy called Familiar Faces which is from the perspectives of the three main Friends couples. Thank you once again and I hope that you guys will read, review and enjoy this update!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I don't know when I will get this up because I have a really busy period of time coming up, and I can't guarantee that I will have the time to finish this as quickly as I might want to. I have updated all five books including this one that I am writing so that they all now have two chapters, so you should definitely go and check them out. I wanted again to thank you guys for the continued support that I have been receiving, and I want to remind you guys that I will appreciate all feedback especially areas where I can improve. With that being said, let's move on to the third chapter of my Cougar Town prequel novel:

Chapter 3 – Andy

I hear the door knock, and look at my roommate, Joe, with an expression that's somewhere between confusion and curiosity. He nods at me as his cue to go ahead and open it, and I go even though I'm expecting whoever's at the door to want to speak to him and not me.

I open the door, and I see Jules and Ellie. I am really shocked to see them, since they had never had any more than polite conversation with me, so I'm seriously questioning why they want to speak to me. There are a couple of awkward seconds between us, until Jules speaks.

"Ellie wanted to talk to you," she said, taking a step back so that Ellie was in front of her.

I look back inside, and am reminded that Joe is still in our room. "Do you want to go somewhere else?" I asked. "It's just my roommate is in here with me right now, but we don't have to be in here if you want things to be just between us."

Jules speaks up for Ellie. "Our room is free, and I can go study until you two are done," she says, sounding very set on the idea becoming a reality.

I hesitate. "Thanks Jules, but you don't have to…" Jules cuts in as I am starting to lose the flow of what I wanted to say.

"No, no," she says, pretty sure of it being okay. "It's fine. Really."

She leads Ellie and I down the hallway towards their dorm. There's an awkward silence between us, and I can't tell whether it's just because of the fact that the conversation is so unexpected, or if there's another reason behind it. I don't even know for myself.

Jules opens the door for us, and ushers us in. "You can sit on my bed, Andy," she says, smoothing out the comforter that's on the bed. I sit down as commanded, and Ellie shuffles awkwardly onto her bed so we're facing each other. "I'll leave you guys to it," she said, as she grabbed her bag that she was taking with her to study and left.

Once the door is shut, I turn to Ellie. "So what brings you here?" I ask, trying to come across as casual as possible, hoping that that will diffuse the situation of its awkwardness a bit better.

"First of all, it was Jules who forcefully persuaded me to come here," Ellie said, and I laugh because from what I've just experienced of Jules and what I knew of her before today, it doesn't surprise me that this wouldn't be her kind of idea. "And second of all, I don't quite know."

"That's always helpful," I reply, and Ellie laughs slightly at my shitty attempt at sarcasm. I play back the laugh in my head again and a realisation suddenly hits me like a lightning bolt. I have a strong inkling that I know why she's here from my own past experiences being around people in love. It also explains why she was kind of weird around me when I saw her on her way to get coffee, and explains also why I couldn't shake that moment from my mind earlier.

I don't know what to say next. She doesn't seem to know either. I decide to take a stab at saying something else. "So, you sure that you just came to chat with me without something in mind to talk about?" I end up saying, hoping that I am making it even slightly easier for Ellie to be able to admit her feelings.

I can see that Ellie is really squirming under my spotlight. I don't want to force her in anyway, but I was desperate to tell her that if she wanted something to be going on between us, I wouldn't say no. I decided to just sit back for a little while, and let her speak. In the meanwhile, I focused on her stunning her hair and make-up were making her look, and wondering how I hadn't started paying closer attention so much sooner.

After about five minutes of what I could fondly dub Ellie-gazing, I could tell that she had plucked up the courage to say something.

"I never ever say anything like this," she said, sounding more confident than before, "so you might want to catch this on camera or something."

I had to stifle the urge to laugh as I didn't want to put her off, but she had really hit the nail on the head with that attempt at humour.

"I didn't quite tell you the truth when I said that I didn't know why I came here. Something happened when I saw you in passing earlier, and it completely blew me off at first. I had no idea what it was until I told Jules about it literally just for like the last hour, but now after a lot of thinking, it makes logical sense," she said, and I didn't want to interrupt but I was now 98% sure that I knew what was coming next. "Even if I had no clue at first," she repeats.

She takes a deep breath, and I could cut the tension literally with a knife. "I think that I have a crush on you," she says, heaving a huge sigh almost directly afterwards.

"It was fairly obvious," I said, and she looks surprised.

"Really?" Ellie asked, seeming to be in genuine disbelief at what I said. "If only it had been like that for me." She laughed nervously.

"The fact that you could barely speak to me earlier when I was just making polite conversation usually says a lot in these kind of situations," I say, and Ellie laughs again.

"Sorry that I'm so awkward," Ellie says, looking really vulnerable to the point where I can tell that, not only does she genuinely care about me to the point where I think she's already past the casual 'crush' stage, but also that she rarely is ever this honest or sentimental with people. It also checks out with my knowledge of the kind of person that she is from seeing her around the campus before and the reputation that she has built for herself. "I'm just really terrible at doing stuff like this."

"Again, that was pretty obvious," I say, grinning.

Ellie looks defeated. "How can I still bear you enough to even use the word love to describe how I feel about you when you've been exactly right twice and I never sacrifice my pride for just anyone?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm one of the exceptions," I said, and Ellie didn't try to fight her smile this time.

"I guess so," she says, looking genuinely happy. "So, what are we going to do about this situation?" she asked, turning back to her serious, business-minded self that I realised that I really loved.

I shrugged, and Ellie glared at me as if she needed an answer right here, right now. "Whatever you want," I said, dodging the second glare.

"That's so unhelpful of you!" she exclaimed, and then took a moment to compose herself before starting to talk again. "I think that we should try things as just friends to start getting to know each other better, and then we can go from there."

"That's sensible because it would suck if we rushed straight in and decided that we hated each other's guts before we got a proper chance with each other," I said, feeling satisfied that this conversation was going in a direction that we both wanted. "Shall we call it a day, then?"

"Yeah," Ellie said, "unless you wanted to hang out for a little longer…" I could see in her expression that she was hoping that I would say yes, and I was so tempted because I was desperate to please her. I decided that I would still mention the only reason that I could think of that would stop us from going ahead with the plan. "Don't you have plans with Jules?" I asked, realising that I actually pretty desperately wishing that they didn't have plans, for my own benefit as well.

Ellie was surprisingly quick to answer. "Honestly, no," she said. "Jules and I usually just hang out because she's my only friend, but since that you seem to be free, I don't see why we couldn't hang out. Jules will want me to anyway, since she set me up to even speak to you."

"True," I said, feeling unable to hide the happy and relieved expression my face but knowing that there was no need to hide it any more. "Have you got anywhere in mind?"

Ellie shrugged. "I've already had coffee today, and I'm broke, so Starbucks is probably a bad idea," she said, and I couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "The library will be too quiet… why don't we just walk around the campus, talking?"

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. That was actually a much better idea until I realised how much that I would get teased by the guys in my classes if I was seen walking around with a girl. At least, if Joe commented, I would know that he was jokily teasing me unlike the others. "Let's go do that."

"Do you want to go back to your dorm to grab a jacket?" Ellie said, looking me up and down. "I just don't want you to get cold."

"I don't either," I chuckle. I walk out of Jules and Ellie's room and back into mine and Joe's. He looks up from the paper he's writing.

"You look happy," he says, and I can tell that he's referring to the conversation with Ellie. "You want to spill what happened?" he added, giving me a look that was somewhere between curiosity and somewhere between just simply wanting to know whether I had got laid or not.

"Not now, mate," I said, grabbing my jacket off of the coatstand. "I'll be back in about two hours, but if I am not back by then, don't come looking."

"Sure," Joe mumbles, already engrossed in his work again after the short interruption.

I shut the door quietly behind me, and pocket the key. When I arrive at the girls' dorm room, I make a mental note to remember exactly where it is and the number because I know that it will come in handy later as I figured that I would probably be spending a lot of time around here now. The door is slightly ajar, so I assume that it's okay just to walk straight in.

Ellie is just wrapping a scarf around her neck and already has her jacket on. "Oh, hey," she said. "I'm just finishing getting ready."

"You look so good even now," I say, and Ellie blushed.

"Thanks," she said. Then she seemed to hesitate, and added, "I'm sorry if I act at all distant or sound ungrateful, I'm just really not used to being complimented so much."

I walked up to her as she was now ready, and put her hands on her shoulders. I looked her in the eyes, and said, "That's because no one sees you the way I do, but I understand. You mean the world to me already, and I really don't see how that could change any time soon." I could see how much this meant to Ellie in that moment, even though she wasn't speaking a word.

"You'd never stop loving me because I am an awkward, horrible bitch, right?" she said, continuing to keep eye contact with me.

I was scared that this would ruin the moment, but I couldn't help but laugh. "I like you already despite those things," I start to say, "so I would hope that that would answer your question." I watched the worry from Ellie's eyes disappear, and transform into pure adoration.

"Shall we get going?" Ellie said, starting to walk towards the door, and takes the key out of the lock. I follow her into the corridor, and she locks the door after us. We start walking down the stairs down to the entrance to the dorm rooms, and end up at the foot of them pretty fast.

"Any particular direction you'd like to go?" I say, and Ellie shrugs. I take the lead, and start walking towards the sports pitches behind the main buildings of the college. "So tell me more about yourself," I said, almost immediately regretting it because I wasn't sure whether Ellie would feel comfortable enough to open up so quickly.

She takes a heavy high, which I couldn't quite tell whether it was because of the cold air as it was fall or nervousness. "My full name is Elisabeth, I have a bullshitty mother called Betsy, and want to be a lawyer when I graduate," she said. "That's all I've got that's really of any interest. What about yourself?"

"I'm a nerd," I say, "hence why I am majoring in economics and finance. I am also Cuban, and have a huge family, most of whom I don't speak to. Oh, and I am frequently tortured for my inability to hold a successful relationship here by the rest of my classmates."

"Even by my standards, that seems a little mean," Ellie said.

"It's pretty brutal," I said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. I didn't expect to then have Ellie take another look at me, and was confused a little.

"You're not as okay with it as you make yourself out to be," Ellie says, stating it as if it were a fact.

"You're right," I admit. "At least now I don't have that problem because this situation makes the perfect decoy."

Ellie grinned. "You're a genius," she says.

"No, you are," I say. "After all, you were the one who made the move, and even if we aren't any more than friends right now, we're closer to a future than we would've been if neither of us had plucked up the courage to say anything."

Ellie nodded and I could see the happiness radiating from her expression. "I'm so happy right now," Ellie said.

"I am, too," I said, giving her a genuine smile. "You're the prettiest woman I have ever met." Ellie blushed more, and I suggested that we sit down as we had approached one of the benches that was around the school.

"You're one of the most gentlemanly men that I have ever met," Ellie replied, giving me a sincere look that melted my heart because I could tell that she meant every word.

"Let's scrap the getting to know each other part before getting together," I say, "since we already seem past it."

Ellie looked at me, with a serious expression on her face. "Hold your horses, tiger," she said, and my heart fell a little. "I'm still not going to rush into everything with you, as much as we may want to."

"Fine," I say, trying not to sound too disappointed but I think that Ellie could still sense it.

"It's not like I'm going to be ghosting you," Ellie said, and I could tell that she was trying to make me feel better. "We can still hang out all the time together, I just want it to be without any of the serious relationship part first."

I nodded. "That's true," I said. "After all, I really want this to work out."

"Likewise," Ellie said. "You really shouldn't worry because we want the same thing out of this."

"I know," I say, and now I can't help but turn and smile at Ellie. "You're still the best," I say, and Ellie smiles back at me.

"You are too," she said. She stopped to look down at the watch on her wrist, and said, "Shall we get back to the dorms? We've just been out here talking for far longer than I had expected, and I don't want Jules or Joe to get worried about whether we're safe or not."

I felt surprised that the time had passed so soon, but then I remembered the old saying 'time flies when you're having fun' and everything started to make a little more sense. "Let's go back," I say, standing up and starting to lead towards the dorm building.

Ellie agrees, and follows me back. Her hand finds mine, and lock together. I gaze into the horizon as we walk, feeling contented. I can't believe that I have found someone like Ellie. She still blows my mind, but not at all in way that's so crazy that it feels weird or uncomfortable. It just feels…right. Immediately, I feel annoyed with myself that I couldn't have chosen a more sophisticated word to describe the moment. I take another look at Ellie and how happy she looks, and decide that she doesn't seem bothered and so it's another irrelevant thought. I was overwhelmed with happiness.

A/N: Here's the third chapter to my Cougar Town story! I hope that you guys like the development of Ellie and Andy's relationship, and that it's believable. Make sure to continuing reviewing and suggesting ideas for improvements as they're always helpful to me, and I hope that whilst you're at it, that you might check out the other books I have written which are the Familiar Faces Trilogy set in the Friends world, and my crossover fanfiction with Friends and Cougar Town. Thank you again for all the support that you guys have already given me because it means the world that people would care enough to read the ideas that I have, and I am so humbled by it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's the fourth chapter in my Cougar Town book. Before we start, I just want to thank you guys again for all the support on all my other projects because it really means the world to me and I don't even think that I can find the words to express how truly grateful I am. I would also like to remind you guys, like the beg that you know me as, that I will always appreciate it if you check out, review and make suggestions for my Friends trilogy and the Cougar Town/Friends crossover fanfiction. With that being said, let's continue onto the chapter:

Chapter 4 – Jules

"So, are you planning on telling me about how things went with Andy?" I said, whilst lying on my side in bed facing Ellie.

"But there's nothing to tell you," Ellie mumbled into her duvet.

"You know that's a lie," I said, knowing that she was trying to bluff me into forgetting that she spent all afternoon and evening with Andy and how it's impossible that nothing went on between them. "You can't ignore the fact that you basically spent no time away from Andy yesterday and say that nothing happened."

Ellie rolled right over so she was facing the bedroom wall and not me, but then she cracked and turned back my way. "You're right," she said, defeated. I made a mental note of the fact that whenever Andy is the topic of conversation or in the situation that Ellie will always crack, just in case I ever need to make use of it. "I'll tell you everything, but it was seriously the best decision to go ahead and talk to him."

Smugly, I said that Ellie was welcome and she rolled her eyes but I could tell that she didn't truly mind. Since I was probably going to be in bed for a while, and the air conditioning had broken so you couldn't turn it off despite the fact that it is definitely fall, I got up and walked over to our wardrobe to search for a sweater. I grabbed the nearest one, tugged it over my head and got back into bed.

"I'm all ears," I said to Ellie, who had stayed rolled towards me.

{A/N: I feel like this is important to mention, especially if this chapter ends up being lousy at all, but there was original draft that I wrote for the beginning of this that was much better so certainly the beginning of this is just me trying to recreate what I remember so if it's really shit I'm so sorry}

"Slow down, child," she said. I didn't bother reacting because it would hold up hearing about them even more. "So we started chatting soon after you left and he was just so sweet and welcoming and honestly I just fell in love with him even more," Ellie said, and I could see from her lit up expression and body language that Andy was already bringing out Ellie's best side that she kept locked away from most people. "I tried to throw him off so many times about the fact that I loved him because you know how much I hate people and I was so nervous that his politeness was all an act, but he saw right through it and made me admit it."

I smiled so big when Ellie said that if anyone else had been in the room, I have no doubt that they would've assumed that it was me that we were talking about. In reality, I was just overwhelmingly glad that Andy had been enough of a gentleman to stick with Ellie, because it's true that Ellie did push away an awful lot of people that she doesn't deserve to at all. It proved to me, as the overprotective friend that I am, that he was a gentleman and in for the long haul with Ellie to really give her a chance.

"That's amazing," I say, making eye contact with Ellie so she could hopefully have seen how genuinely happy I was for her. "Seriously."

She smiled back at me, and I could see in her eyes that she was more grateful than she knew how to describe. "Anyways," she started saying again, "We decided that we would stay friends at first just to test the waters before becoming more serious, mainly because I was desperate not to lose the one chance that I have had at a decent relationship in so long, if not the only proper one."

"I see how well that went," I say, alluding to the rest of yesterday, and almost immediately regretting it.

"Do you want to hear my explanation for the rest of the day then or not?" Ellie says, adding to my regret. "Because I'm always happy to sit and argue with you instead."

I mimed sewing my mouth shut, and Ellie looked satisfied enough to continue. "We talked for longer just trying to get to know each other, but we had to cut it short to get back here for you and Joe not to worry about us. But both of us agreed that we just couldn't stop wanting to be around each other, which is why I kept on leaving and finally came in to sleep at 2am," she said, looking a little sheepish.

"What did you guys do whilst you were out together, then?" I probed, a just little surprised at how curious I was to know about every single thing that happened Andy and Ellie.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Ellie said. "But we really didn't do anything that interesting."

"Oh okay," I said, feeling like there was no point in inquiring further because all I wanted to know was that Andy was going to make her happy. "Ellie, in all fairness, all I really want to know is that he's just going to make you as happy as you are when you talk about him."

Ellie meets my eyes, and I can almost predict exactly what she is going to say next. "Jules, I know I'm not always the most agreeable or nice person, but the fact that more than anything you want me to be happy is why I can always count on you to be there for me."

I smile back, genuinely feeling the happiest I've ever been in so long. One of the biggest goals that I have always had in my life is to always try and give back to the people that I love, so it literally makes my day every time that I am successful. I realise that I am hungry after all this chatting because Ellie and I haven't yet had a chance to go and get breakfast.

"Do you wanna go get food?" I asked Ellie, unable to hide my desperation.

"But I have to get up," Ellie said, and then she took another look at me. "But I want food," she added, appearing to take my feelings into account as a favour in response to my support earlier.

I pushed away the duvet, and stood up to walk over to the wardrobe. I found the nearest sweater and a pair of jeans, and said, "Ellie, I'm using the en-suite, don't come in."

She groaned which I interpreted to mean that she had heard me. When I came back out of the bathroom, Ellie was still lying in bed.

"I thought you were going to start getting ready," I said, still feeling hungry but now disappointed and annoyed.

Ellie looked my way and flipped me off. I flashed her another warning look, and dragged her duvet off the bed. "Rude," Ellie mumbled under her breath, but she walked over to the wardrobe and started choosing clothes to wear.

"Are you happy now?" Ellie said, as she poked her head out of the bathroom door whilst holding a sweater in her arms.

I just rolled my eyes but sat back down on my bed to wait. I started considering places that Ellie and I could go and get lunch, as it was 10am and I knew that the canteen on campus stopped selling breakfast after 9am so that was completely out of the question. Starbucks was our best bet, even though their food was pretty terrible. I hoped that Ellie wasn't in one of her picky moods because otherwise that idea would go completely down the drain.

Ellie walked out of the bathroom, and I decided to tell her the plans.

"Since we are too late for the free food," I tell Ellie, and she doesn't look too bothered because I know that she knows that if there's money involved, she can get me to pay, "we'll have to go to the Starbucks and see what they have there."

Ellie shrugged. "Cool," she said, and heaved a sigh of relief because I could tell that she was going easy on me today and I appreciated that.

I grabbed my jacket, and started walking to the door to get the keys out of the lock. I undid the lock and Ellie walked up behind me. We both walked out the door, and I paused to lock it behind us. We walked to the stairway, and down towards the dorm room block entrance.

"Hey," I hear and look up. Ellie breathes in sharply and I follow her gaze to Andy.

"Hi, Andy," I say, trying to cover up for Ellie's awkwardness. "What you doing out here?"

I could see that he was trying to make eye contact with Ellie, and wasn't completely focused on what I was saying.

"The lesson I had today was cancelled," he replied, "and so I was on my way back to my room."

"Cool," I said, trying to subtly motion to Ellie that she should try and say something. "Ellie and I were on our way to go get lunch, as we both slept in." I laughed, trying to break the tension.

"Ellie," Andy said, finally plucking up the courage to directly address Ellie. "Do you want to hang out together at all today?"

Ellie looked slightly taken aback, but she decided to talk anyway. "Sure," she said. "So when are you free?"

"I should be asking you that," Andy said, "but I'm free all this afternoon again."

"I'll be there," Ellie said, with the same happy expression that she had started wearing in the presence of Andy.

"Awesome," Andy said, dodging past us as we met on the stairs and then continuing on up.

Ellie and I continued walking down the stairs in silence, out the door after she opened it for me. She never made a gesture like this usually to anyone, and so this was a very pleasant surprise. We walked together again in silence to the door of Starbucks.

"Do you know what you want?" I asked Ellie.

"I know my coffee order," Ellie answered, "But I'll have to look at the food on offer and get back to you."

I looked at the food in the display case in front of me, and decided that I wasn't in the mood for cake or pastries. I walked over to the cabinet beside the till, and looked at the selection of drinks and sandwiches. Ellie joined me, and we both decided on a ham and cheese sandwiches.

Ellie passed me her sandwich and went to wait for our coffees. I walked towards the till, and pushed the toasties towards the lady at the till.

"That will be $8, please," she said, and I handed over a $10 bill.

I walked back over to Ellie, who was now trying to balance both of our drinks and the napkins in her hands. I decided to take my drink from her to spread the load between us, and Ellie glanced at me appreciatively.

We both walked back out of the Starbucks and back to our dorm room. I sat down on my bed and started eating.

"Have you got plans whilst I'll be with Andy?" Ellie asked, and I nodded.

"I'll just be studying again," I said, taking a sip of coffee.

Ellie looked at me again as if she was unsure that I was being genuinely fine with the situation.

"I'm fine with it," I said, "if anything, it's actually better this way because I know that now I am definitely not going to fail any of my midterms with the amount of studying I'm getting done."

She chuckled, and I was so happy that because it was just another reminder to me of how happy she was, all because of Andy. We ate in silence and then Ellie announced that she was off to Andy's. "See you later," I called from my bed, as she shut the door behind herself as she walked out.

I jumped off my bed to rearrange the blanket as it had bunched itself up at the foot, and then walked over to the desk where I had left my textbooks, notepad and highlighters from yesterday. I tried to balance them all one of my arms to walk carefully back to the bed in one trip, but the highlighters slid off and fell on the floor. "Fucking hell!" I yelled, and then stood for a couple of seconds in surprise at how aggressive I had sounded over a pack of highlighters.

If Ellie had been here to witness this, I know that she would have said exactly how I was thinking. Despite knowing that she was only down the corridor, oddly I was already missing her. I think that's what happens when you are someone's only friend and spend 24/7 together, because I can barely stay angry or upset at Ellie without missing her.

I try and distract myself by trying to make the notes that I had already created less dull with the highlighters. Ellie always made fun whenever I tried to do anything vaguely creative but I usually countered her argument with the fact that she was no better than me so she had nothing to compare me with and she gave up because she couldn't stand to have me be right, which clearly mattered more to her than admitting defeat against me.

A/N: Here's the ending of this chapter, and I'm so sorry that it took so long to update. My updates being more sporadic will probably be a theme over the next month because this month is so busy but I hope that you guys will stick with me. I hope that you enjoy this new chapter and as always keep an eye out for any new books that I decide to create or chapter updates. Please also review this chapter and leave any constructive comments or suggestions of improvements I could make, and thank you so much for keeping going with me, it means the word that people still care about the random ideas that I come up with.


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